There
exist in our government today only two political parties, and a few
Independents in power. While we believe that we have a choice between
them, they act a lot alike when seeking campaign contributions. Money
and wealth have defined everyone in Washington, resulting in one
political party on a continuum, stretching from those who wish to
make laws for the people's benefit and those who wish to support a
climate of corporate domination.

On
the Left side, we see the Democrats, Liberals and Progressives,
politicians interested in the welfare of the people. Supporting
policies which provide Americans quality education, opportunity to
excel, personal and family security & protection, social safety
nets like unemployment insurance, forming labor unions, protective
trade agreements, health care, medicare, welfare and social security.
The Left believes that people are more important than
artificial-persons created by corporations. Most are anti-war.

On
the other side are the Right-Winged; the Republicans, Conservatives,
Neoconservatives, Neoliberals, Libertarians, and religious influences
which claim to be preserving the conservative policies which made the
country great. Heavily supported by the wealthy, businesses,
corporations and religious organizations, there is a greater interest
in oppressing Human Rights in favor of corporation expansion and
collecting money for the wealthy top 2% of the country. The Right
believes that artificial-persons should hold more power than natural
persons in governing the country, and the Supreme Court seems to
agree. These folks are xenophobic, authoritarian in nature, like
fighting wars, very pro-business, and support government
interventions to better their economic conditions; such as
privatizing the profits in industry, while socializing their losses.

The
Republican Agenda:

The
apparent Republican Agenda is to financially destroy the economies of
the federal and state budgets through deficit spending and increased
war funding, sending the country into bankruptcy which will result in
smaller government, the loss of entitlement programs, and the selling
of assets to private people and organizations from which great
profits can be made by their friends and the wealthiest people in the
world.

They
would like to see the privatization of the Commons. Public land,
water, the environment and all government services should be allowed
to be owned by private individuals and corporations from which great
wealth can be extracted.

In
obtaining this goal, they will need to reduce the rights and freedoms
formally enjoyed by most citizens, trying to silence the population
who may object. We have witnessed the start of eliminating rights and
freedoms during the Bush-43's administration with the advent of "the
war on terror" where the Patriot Act stripped away our rights
guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment prohibiting unreasonable search
and seizure. The act dramatically reduced restrictions on law
enforcement agencies' ability to search telephone, e-mail
communications, medical, financial, and other records.

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By
broadening the definition of terrorism to include domestic terrorists
as well, law enforcement can engage in all sorts of practices
formally needing warrants of court orders. And they do not even need
any facts, just the allegation will convict someone of being a
terrorist.

With
the passing of the PATRIOT ACT II (Domestic Security Enhancement Act
of 2003) more rights and privileges were further stripped away. In
their efforts to hide the removal of rights from the public, most of
the terms of this act are still held in secret (National Security).
What we do know is that Federal agents no longer need a subpoena or
obtain a court order to access consumer credit reports.These reports
are repositories of a great deal of sensitive information - from our
employment history to where we shop, borrow and transact. All banking
transactions may be reviewed, all medical records, procedures, test
results and medications are made available to those working for the
government. No longer does anyone need to present probable cause,
the feds would only have to "certify" (non-binding statement)
that they will use the information "in connection with their
duties to enforce federal law." Investigators would not have to
certify that the person whose information was accessed was suspected
of terrorism, or indeed, any other crime, and no one is to be
notified that their records had been accessed.

And
just to make sure that everyone lives in a state of fear, those
persons who cannot be deemed "domestic terrorists" because
they have not broken any law, can alternatively be deemed "foreign
powers" under Patriot II - even if they are American citizens or
permanent residents.

To
assure fear in the public consciousness, The Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld
administration allows immunity from prosecution by anyone doing their
job. The PA-II provides immunity from liability to law enforcement
engaging in spying operations against the American people. It also
provides a defense for federal agents who engage unauthorized
searches and surveillance relating to foreign intelligence when they
are acting "pursuant to a lawfulauthorization
from the President or the Attorney General." Not only are
government employees free to expose all your tightly held secrets,
but it eliminates civil liability for businesses and employees that
report "suspected terrorists" to the federal government, no
matter how malicious or unfounded the tip may be.

Not
only are the rights granted by the 4th
Amendment suspended, but the 1st
amendment rights for Free Speech are also being reduced. Protesting
with groups which the government has declared terrorist will get you
deported and your citizenship revoked. A U.S. citizen may be
expatriated if he becomes a member of, or provides material support
to a group that the United Stated has designated as a 'terrorist
organization'. The Supreme Court even forbids giving advice to a
member of these groups, even if it is advice unrelated to terror
activities.

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In
order to bankrupt the nation, Bush-43 also expanded the Secretary of
the Treasury's authority to regulate financial transactions,
particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities. This
in itself seems like no big deal, but consider how Bush handled the
financial crisis caused by the policies and expenditures under his
direction. Bush initiated financial bailouts to support financial
institutions and the owners of such institutions after their corrupt
policies would have led to their demise in a "Free Economy"
(without the invisible hand of government). This set up a wave of
bank takeovers, with one institution buying another with TARP money;
eliminating fair competition and establishing a climate of To Big To
Fail operations. President Bush signed the bill into law within hours
of its congressional enactment, creating a $700 billion Troubled
Assets Relief Program (TARP) to purchase failing bank assets. Beyond
TARP, another $4T has been spent since 2008 in shoring up the
financial sector, stimulating the economy with first-time home buyers
incentives, Cash-for-Clunkers, and bailouts to industries which
should have been left to fail. Although Obama authorized these
programs, they were necessary by the previous administrations poor
regulatory and financial oversight.

Efforts
to reform the industry, so as to prevent further financial disasters
were drawn up with little real change to the policies. Congress
members, heavily supported by the campaign contributions from the
financial institutions and their lobbyist, have watered down (at the
insistence of Republican members) any effort to reform financial
policies which could prevent future bank failures. Banks are left to
continue doing what it was that created the economic recession
(depression) with out oversight. Republicans who endorsed bailouts (
in 2008) with zero accountability and without transparency were
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Ben Bernanke, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman
Christopher Cox, and congressional leaders like John McCain, and
President George W. Bush. These individuals claim immunity to any
prosecution which may result from future investigations into any
wrongdoing. Round and round the money goes, and where it currently is, is nobody's business, and nobody need to tell. Can a country remain
sovereign without controlling it's financial policies ?

But
it isn't just sending money into the financial institution black-hole
without accountability that bankrupts a society, it is also the way
it spends what it has, or borrows. An increase in the Military size
creates a big drain on the economy. Currently (as of January 2010)
the military has 1,445,000 active duty personnel with an additional
850,000 reserves, many of whom are in active combat. Secretary of
Defense Robert Gates, in 2009, proposed increasing the Army by 22,000
more troops. (In March of 2000, before Bush-43 decided that he needed
an adrenaline rush. the total number of employees employed in
National Defense and International Relations totaled 675,000.)

Mike now spend his time in critical-thinking about social injustices, equal justice for all & the system of due process, government corruption, secret agreements & hidden agendas, political misdealing, cultural dysfunction, separation of Church from (more...)